On January 11, 2023, Toei announced that its box-office revenue from January 1 to December 31, 2022, recorded 32,563,660,570 yen (US$246 million), breaking the previous record.
Toei’s previous record was 17,980,254,340 yen (US$135 million in today’s conversion) in 2009, so they broke their previous record by a huge margin.
Toei attributed its record numbers to two projects — One Piece Film Red and The First Slam Dunk.
Eiichiro Oda’s ONE PIECE FILM RED, the new animated feature film version of the popular manga “ONE PIECE,” has been a long-running hit since its release on August 6, 2022. Its box-office revenue exceeded 19 billion yen (US$144 million) as of January 10, 2010.
THE FIRST SLAM DUNK is a new theatrical animation of the famous basketball manga “SLAM DUNK” by Yuuhiko Inoue. The movie has also been a big hit, recording approximately 1.29 billion yen in box office revenue in two days since its release on December 3, 2022. As of January 10, it has been a big hit, exceeding 7.7 billion yen (US$57 million) in box office revenue.
Toei’s previous highest record in 2009 was on the back of a One Piece film — One Piece Film Strong World.
More about One Piece Film Red
One Piece Film Red is the fifteenth feature film of the One Piece film series, based on the manga of the same name written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda.
Goro Taniguchi directed One Piece Film Red at Toei Animation. Fun Fact: Goro Taniguchi made his debut as a director with One Piece: Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack! in 1998.
Tsutomu Kuroiwa was in charge of the screenplay. Masayuki Sato designed the characters. He was also the General Animation Director. Yasutaka Nakata composed the music.
More about The First Slam Dunk
Check out the official websites:
The First Slam Dunk is based on Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk basketball manga series. Inoue also personally directed the film at Toei Animation and wrote the script. Yasuyuki Ebara designed the characters for the film.
Inoue published his iconic sports manga in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1990 to 1996 for a total of 31 volumes. The manga inspired a television anime that aired from October 1993 to March 1996 and four films from 1994 to 1995.